COLUMBUS, Ohio — Will Howard threw two touchdown passes to freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, and Ohio State routed Tennessee 42-17 on Saturday night in a first-round College Football Playoff game, setting up a New Year’s Day rematch with No. 1 Oregon at the Rose Bowl.
Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson rushed for two touchdowns apiece as the Buckeyes (11-2) gave their fans an early Christmas present that should quiet some of the outcry following the devastating fourth straight loss to Michigan three weeks ago.
“You could tell from the jump that they had a look in their eye,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said after the win. “We have a lot of football ahead of us. It’s a great win. We’re going to enjoy this for 24 hours and move onto Oregon.”
Howard finished 24-for-29 passing for 311 yards, the second 300-yard game of the season for the senior. Smith had six catches for 103 yards, the sixth freshman to have over 100 receiving yards in a CFP game.
Eighth-seeded Ohio State scored on its first three drives while forcing three straight Tennessee punts. The ninth-seeded Vols (10-3) finally got on the board with a second-quarter field goal and touchdown but couldn’t generate anything in the second half until getting a meaningless TD late in the game.
“We called this game more aggressively, there’s no question about that,” Day said, comparing the win to the loss to Michigan. “But we also did some things in this game that maximize what we have. … And I thought Will was excellent in this game.”
The Buckeyes indeed did what they didn’t do against Michigan: Get the ball on the boundary and throw deep to their most explosive players. And as a result, they draw Oregon, the top seed that defeated Ohio State, 32-31, on Oct. 12. After Saturday’s game, ESPN BET opened Ohio State as a one-point favorite over Oregon. The Ducks covered as 3.5-point home underdogs in that October matchup.
Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava was 14 for 31 for 104 yards and rushed a career-high 20 times for 47 more.
The 473 yards gained by Ohio State was the most surrendered by the Tennessee defense all season.
“We had some balance in this game,” Day said. “But this has to continue into the next game.”
The game time temperature was 25 degrees and dropping in the first college football game played in December in 102-year-old Ohio Stadium.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
